The world’s largest maker of cigarettes has issued an apology for a study commissioned by one of its affiliates showing that the Czech Republic saves money on health care, housing, and pensions due to smokers dying prematurely. Dr. Allan Handysides, director of health ministries for the Seventh-day Adventist Church worldwide, says the incident finally shows the tobacco company in a true light. 

“For one of our tobacco companies to commission this study was not just a terrible mistake, it was wrong,” said Philip Morris Co. Inc. July 26, apologizing for its study, which found the Czech government saved $1,227 on each smoker who died. “All of us at Philip Morris, no matter where we work, are extremely sorry for this. No one benefits from the very real, serious, and significant diseases caused by smoking.”

Handysides is not impressed by the company’s response. Despite its apology, Philip Morris continues to benefit from the sale of the cigarettes which cause these “very real, serious, and significant diseases,” he says.

Philip Morris has canceled similar studies that had been planned for Poland and other Eastern European countries.

“As long as Philip Morris continues to engage in the tobacco industry, it’s impossible to believe that it really wants to make reparations for the damage its product has created worldwide,” says Handysides.

A full-page ad in several newspapers across the Untied States July 26 showed a cadaver’s foot with a toe tag that read: “$1,227 - That’s how much a study sponsored by Philip Morris said the Czech Republic saves on health care, pensions and housing every time a smoker dies.” The ad was sponsored by several anti-tobacco organizations.

Handysides is glad the incident has gained public attention. He believes it will add to the discomfort of many tobacco companies that are in a “frenzied state of trying to refurbish their image.”

“Until Philip Morris and other tobacco companies go beyond making placating statements and get out of the production of cigarettes, their sincerity will always be in question,” says Handysides.

The Adventist Church has promoted a tobacco-free lifestyle for more than 130 years. Even before the health problems associated with tobacco use were widely known, the Adventist Church developed stop-smoking programs that became the proto-type of those later adopted by many governments and public health programs. The “Breathe-free” program, created by the Adventist Church health department in 1985, is now utilized in more than 50 countries.